New Releases for July 23, 2013

Acid Mothers Temple’s new album heads in a completely different direction from 2012’s Son Of A Bitches Brew. Harder, faster, and more riff-rock oriented, In Search Of The Lost Divine Arc is here to slay. AMT skews their vibe between Zeppelin and Beefheart, coming out with another classic ripper in the process.

Although the band’s members hail from Hope Conspiracy and Converge, they turn their more crust punk/d-beat-driven aggression outward with APMD.

Marc Anthony – 3.0 CD (Sony Latin)

New album from the Latin superstar, his first original tropical music recording in nearly a decade.

Armed For Apocalypse – The Road Will End CD (MRI)

The sludgy four-piece from the small Northern California college town of Chico have worked relentlessly to leave their imprint on metal.

Marco Beltrami – Wolverine CD (Sony Masterworks)

Marco Beltrami has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Score for his work on 3:10 To Yuma and the Best Picture Oscar-winner Hurt Locker. He is best known for his work scoring horror films such as Mimic, Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark, Resident Evil, The Woman In Black and this year’s Sundance favorite, The Sessions.

Black Tusk – Tend No Wounds CD/LP (Relapse)

Savannah, Georgia’s heavy-rockin road dogs return to the fold with a stopgap EP to hold you over between their raging last full length and their next. Tend No Wounds is a 6-song/20-minute blast of high octane raging Southern rock/metal that merges the classic original backwoods metallic hardcore Black Tusk sound with the newer more polished rock based tunes the band has honed after years on the road on the road with bands like Baroness, Skeleton Witch, Mastodon, Kvelertak and more.

Brand New Machine – The Devil Made Me Do It CD (Epochal Artists)

Brand New Machine’s new album takes the band’s hard-living lifestyle and mixes it with arena ready rock anthems to create a soundtrack for debauchery.

The Buckaroos – Play Buck & Merle [Reissue/1965] CD (Omnivore)

When a young Merle Haggard played in Buck Owens band, he suggested the name Buckaroos for the combo. While Merle’s tenure in the band was shortlived, he did pretty well for himself afterward. And The Buckaroos name not only stuck, but the band became almost as notable as their leader. Their playing became as noticeable as Buck’s distinct songwriting and delivery. Includes plenty of bonus material.

Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture Of You CD/LP (Dualtone)

Legendary Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Guy Clark presents his first full-length album in nearly four years. Now in his 71st year, Clark continues a legacy of peerless folk-inspired country songs on My Favorite Picture Of You.

Dos Divas – Grits & Glamor CD (Red River Entertainment)

Dos Divas is a collaboration between Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan.

The Downward Project/John Potter – Night Sessions CD (ECM)

“The Dowland Project requires a certain aesthetic readjustment in the listener weaned on authenticke treatments of this 16th-century master. The result is not only beautiful, however, but oddly enough remains more faithful to the melancholic and intimate character of Dowland’s songs than one would have thought possible. This is exactly the kind of innocently audacious venture, flying in the face of artistically correct attitudes to early music performance that ECM is able to pull off with such aplomb.” — Paul Richardson, The Independent

Fight Or Flight – A Life By Design? CD (WB)

While on hiatus from Disturbed in 2012, guitarist Dan Donegan started to intensely miss touring and recording. So, he reached out to Evans Blue frontman Dan Chandler with an idea.

Donegan didn’t approach Fight Or Flight with a concrete plan. Instead, he allowed the music to arrive naturally, and that’s exactly why it feels so alive and authentic. There wasn’t a big social media reveal. He didn’t even tell the record label or his management that he was writing songs. Rather, he picked up a guitar and held nothing back and started his collaboration with Chandler.

Ella Fitzgerald – Best Of The BBC Vaults CD+DVD (Universal)

BBC archivists have uncovered a whole series of unreleased Ella Fitzgerald footage, which has been digitally remastered and presented here in a CD+DVD package. The CD features an audio selection of her best performances, while the DVD contains four full length shows, including her 1977 performance at Montreux, two TV appearances from 1965 and a performance at Ronnie Scotts’ from 1974.

Food Pyramid – Ecstasy And Refreshment CD/LP+MP3 (Holy Mountain)

Ecstasy And Refreshment calls to mind Sky Records’ 1970s kraut-pop output filtered through 1990s DC futurism—Trans Am-esque motorik pop, Game Boy console sound effects and the current Mordant Music roster, particularly Echoplekz. Disembodied voices float in and out of the mix, reminiscent of Byrne/Eno’s ethnomusicology-inspired My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts or The Residents’ Eskimo.

F##k Buttons – Slow Focus CD/2xLP+MP3 (ATP Recordings)

“Slow Focus dabbles in a lot of moods one might be better off not feeling; that much is certain. Vying from dark and brooding to disparately chaotic, F##k Buttons masterfully torture synthesized and processed sounds all over their Slow Focus. And yet, as is always the case with the Bristol duo, the album is a catastrophic event you just can’t pull yourself away from.” — Inyourspeakers.com

Twelve Reasons To Die: The Brown Tape was initially made available as an exclusive limited edition cassette tape for Record Store Day, and is now available on CD.

Gogol Bordello – Pure Vida Conspiracy CD/LP (ATO)

The gypsy punk rockers return with their sixth full-length album, the title of which is derived from a Spanish slang phrase for pure life, which is a theme that resonates throughout the new material.

Selena Gomez – Stars Dance CD (Hollywood)

Gomez’s fourth album is released the day after her 21st birthday. ‘Nuff said.

Grumbling Fur – Glynnaestra CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)

An avant-pop album assembled as one would a collage. This structural foundation is built up via an eclectic array of instruments, both acoustic and modified, to pulsating electronic sounds. Add to this mix the pair’s entirely modern shamanistic meta-narratives, and the result is a contemporary psychedelic pop delight.

Halo Halo are three friends living in South London, writing a primal, hyper-melodic music that makes you want to dance into the mountains and throw a rope around the moon. There’s a proximity to nature and ritual dance music felt in their music.

Hands Like Houses – Unimagine CD (Rise)

Sophomore album from the Australian rock band.

Grant Hart – The Argument CD/LP (Domino)

As a founding member of Husker Du and as a solo artist, Grant Hart has cut a singular path across the last three decades. His latest solo effort is an epic based on John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Hart distills its essence into pop rock nuggets that fir through the history of 20th century music. Yes, it’s ambitious as hell and yes, he pulls it off. Catch him with his three-piece live band opening for Deerhunter on tour this fall.

Hunx And His Punx –Street Punk CD/LP (Hardly Art)

Hunx And His Punx return with a new album filled with the catchiest and most hateful punk songs heard in eons. Street Punk is an unrelenting tour de force, echoing early ‘80s hardcore, ‘90s grrl sounds, Darby Crash on helium, and the female answer to The Misfits.

Ethan Iverson – Costumes Are Mandatory CD (Highnote)

Saxophonist Lee Konitz began his career in the wake of Charlie Parker but he became arguably the only saxophonist to offer an alternative to Bird’s overwhelming influence at the time. It is not surprising then that free-thinking and improvising Konitz would gravitate to the post-modern sensibilities of Ethan Iverson, best known as the pianist in The Bad Plus and a composer of extremely wide range and versatility. Together they offer a wildly creative set list where past and present combine to teeter on the edge of the future.

Another remarkable addition to the Budapest-based groups discography; the album bridges musical worlds in a way that would have been difficult to imagine just a few decades ago, as it juxtaposes works by two seeming antipodes of 20th-century music: American romanticist Samuel Barber (1910-81) and post-war Hungarian modernist Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006).

The Love Language – Ruby Red CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)

The Love Language produces new standards for the Carolina pop songbook, as principle singer/songwriter Stuart McLamb is joined by 20 musicians on an album that was recorded across several time zones. “Songs were scrawled with lungs full of mountain air, colored with spilled wine, and seasoned with the drawbars of a thrift store organ and tape echo,” states McLamb in an album announcement.

Lustmord – Word As Power CD/2xLP (Blackest Ever Black)

For the first time in his 33-year career, Lustmord places vocals at the center of his abyssal ambient creations, coaxing incantatory performances out of Aina Skinnes Olsen, Jarboe (ex-Swans) Maynard James Keenan (Tool), and Sorian.

Mammoth Grinder – Underworlds CD (20 Buck Spin)

Underworlds marks a peak at which Mammoth Grinder have sharpened and perfected their sound into a seething grind/death/thrash maelstrom of intense degree. Unrelenting in concentrated raw precision and focused power, the album careens violently through ten tracks with effortless versatility. Vinyl version due August 6.

Margots – Pescado CD/LP (OkkaDisk)

Margots is a new ensemble comprised to develop and record the songs of Adrienne Pierluissi, a contempary painter living in Milwaukee, WI, featuring Ken VanDermark, Nick Macri, Tim Daisy, John Dereszynski, Rick Reger, Joe McPhee, Tomeka Reid, and Jen Paulson.

Master Musicians Of Bukkake – Far West CD/LP (Important Records)

Far West is the soundtrack to this expedition to the caves of light we all travel into with hopes of acquiring redemption only to realize our bodies have dissolved, gone like rain from the sky, snow from the ground, thoughts from the mind. It’s sound is progressive folk inspired by Paul Giovanni’s Wicker Man soundtrack, early Canterbury prog folk, the suspenseful soundtracks of Goblin and Ennio Morricone, Gerry Goldsmith s interwoven dark orchestrations, and Pacific Northwest folk rock.

Mean Lady – Love Now CD/LP (Fat Possum)

Through bubbly synths and rhythmic production Dill & Nobles managed to cobble together a timeless, concise pop record.

Mona – Torches And Pitchforks CD (Island/Mercury)

Sophomore album from the Nashville-based alt-rock band.

The Mountain Goats – All Hail West Texas CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)

Originally released about a decade ago on the late, lamented Emperor Jones label, this reissue incudes seven unearthed songs from the two surviving contemporaneous cassettes.

Kumail Nanjiani – Beta Male CD+DVD (Comedy Central)

In his debut Comedy Central one-hour stand-up special Beta Male, Kumail Nanjiani (John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show, Portlandia, Franklin & Bash) tells you about all the things that terrify him completely. Be with him in his hometown of Karachi, Pakistan, as he watches a cobra fight a mongoose at a kid’s birthday party. Feel the pain as 12-year old Kumail gets an adult videotape stuck in the VCR during a power outage. Shake with fear as grown up Kumail investigates noises in the attic.

Van Dyke Parks – Songs Cycled CD/2xLP+CD (Bella Union)

Songs Cycled is the seventh studio album by Van Dyke Parks, and is his first of original material since 1995’s Orange Crate Art. It features relatively new compositions, re-recordings, and covers.

Pyyramids – Brightest Darkest Day CD (Paracadute)

Debut album from this musical project consisting of Tim Nordwind of OK Go and Drea Smith of the Chicago electro-pop duo He Say/She Say. The duo made the album in L.A. with the help of Dan from OK Go and Dave Fridmann (MGMT, Flaming Lips, etc). As Pyramids, both musicians are stepping outside of their respective comfort zones for an album of dark, soulful rock.

Reliant K – Collapsible Lung CD (Mono Vs. Stereo)

The energetic and passionate Ohio-based band releases the follow up to 2009’s rousing Forget And Not Slow Down, filled with a vintage ’90s alternative rock sound, highlighting reflective lyrics dealing with heartache masterfully created by lead singer and songwriter Matt Thiessen.

Best known as Buck Owens’ guitarist, Don Rich was also an incredible fiddle player.

Out of print for decades, That Fiddlin’ Man has been issued for the first time on CD. Includes bonus instrumental tracks taken from 13 different albums recorded from 1963 to 1970.

Rich Gang – Rich Gang CD (Motown/Universal)

Rich Gang is Birdman’s new rap collective which includes Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Meek Mill and Future, to name a few. The album features appearances from the aforementioned artists as well as French Montana, Nicki Minaj, T.I., Bow Wow and more, and is available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds bonus tracks.

Jackson Scott – Melbourne CD/LP (Fat Possum)

Jackson Scott has developed out of a weird audacity; bending spoons with apocalyptic melodies, sugared with solipsistic textures. How did the world conceive this young cosmonaut? A college dropout with a 4-track and a one-track mind. A listener and a conceiver. His voice, whether pitched up or androgynous, speaks of a still life. But painting is meaningless, songs irrelevant, aura outdated if you are a revivalist. Jackson is not.

Nadine Shah – Love Your Dum And Mad CD/LP (Apollo)

“Produced by Ben Hillier (Depeche Mode, The Horrors), Shah’s long-awaited debut is finally upon us. ‘Dreary Town’, from the EP of the same name, makes an appearance. Cyclic, waltzing piano forges with desolate guitar plucks, the two nervously harmonizing underneath Shah’s tempestuous torrent of emotion. It’s like the soundtrack to a deranged fairground, executed by a somber organ grinder and a sulking monkey. There’s a Zola Jesus-y twang, minus the electronics, in that it’s operatic, haunting and performed with gusto.” – thelineofbestfit.com

“The beloved L.A. band Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros, comprised of Alex Ebert and his ragtag group of musicians, has returned with a self-titled third album. The sincerity and intoxicating joy that have made the indie band so popular remains (case in point: ‘Let’s Get High,’ already a festival favorite), but Ebert and co. have snuck a few meditative tracks into the mix like ‘This Life,’ the somber, powerful closer: ‘Oh, this life/Yes, this life ain’t for me now/I’m gonna jump in the fire.’” – wmagazine.com

This new limited deluxe edition of The Smashing Pumpkin’s 1996 box set, The Aeroplane Flies High, features the original 33 track version remastered by Bob Ludwig and expanded to 104 tracks (90 audio and 14 audio/visual) encompassing unreleased demos, alternative versions and live recordings. In addition to expanded versions of Aeroplane‘s original five discs, a sixth disc contains live recordings from the 1996 Mellon Collie tour, while the DVD content is taken from a July, 4 1997, performance in Belfort, France. Vinyl version collects all five Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness EPs – 33 tracks in all.

True Widow – Circumambulation CD/LP (Relapse)

Third album from Dallas heavy ‘stonegaze’ trio. Equal parts drone, post-rock and shoegaze.

Truth & Salvage Co. – Pick Me Up CD/LP (Megaforce)

Truth & Salvage Co. is a six-piece roots rock/Americana band from Los Angeles. Something resilient and genuinely hopeful reaches out from this West Coast-dappled, Southern-tinged outfit. They are steadfast purveyors of a silver lining for gray-cloud days whose music is a beautiful rag ‘n’ bone buffet of unshakeable rock, classic country strains, unfiltered blues, and folk’s bonhomie, accented with winningly human harmonies.

U-God – The Keynote Speaker CD (Soul Temple)

Four years after Dopium (his third solo album), the Wu-Tang Clan member returns with a new album. With RZA as executive producer, The Keynote Speaker features guest appearances by Method Man, GZA, Inspectah Deck, Styles P, Elzhi (Slum Village), Kool Keith and others. Vinyl version due July 30.

Ulver – Live At Roadburn CD (Outer Battery)

The early pioneers of Norwegian black metal — blending rock, electronic, industrial, and symphonic traditions along with ambient soundscapes and experimental sounds — perform the tracks from Childhood’s End for the first and only time live at Roadburn 2012.

Impressions Of Po Music is a unique album completely dedicated to exploring the written material of Joe McPhee. Vandermark has rearranged eight of McPhee’s pieces from the 1970s and ‘80s for a nonet that includes Jason Adasiewicz, Josh Berman, Jeb Bishop, Tim Daisy, Kent Kessler, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Dave Rempis and of course, Joe McPhee. Vandermark features McPhee’s tenor playing throughout in a contemporary set of arrangements inspired by the collaborations of Gil Evans and Miles Davis.

Mika Vanio – Kilo CD/2xLP Blast First Petite)

The new solo album by Finnish experimental electronic musician is a return to his classic power electronics/heavy beats approach that made his alter-ego Pan Sonic garner a worldwide reputation.

Here we have a deliciously decadent collection of rockabilly and surf music from the 1950s. It’s all zoot suits, wrap around shades and Bettie Page types dancing on pink and turquoise cocktail tables. Tiki holidays in Hawaii with the sweet smell of ‘jazz cigarettes’ driving all the young folk into a debauched, kitsch-trash frenzy.

We Came As Romans – Tracing Back Roots CD (Equal Vision)

Third album from the metalcore outfit.

Weekend – Jinx CD/LP (Slumberland)

“On their sophomore album Jinx, the San Francisco psych-rock trio Weekend slightly tweak the all-out blare of their debut album Sports, transforming that sound into something more precise and streamlined.” — Stereogum

The Winery Dogs – The Winery Dogs CD (Loud & Proud)

Debut album from the rock supergroup featuring guitarist Richie Kotzen, bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Mike Portnoy. While all three have hard rock and prog rock backgrounds, The Winery Dogs work towards a classic rock sound influenced by Led Zeppelin, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Grand Funk Railroad and others.

DVD + Blu-ray:

Aerosmith – Rock For The Rising Sun DVD/Blu-ray (Eagle Rock)

Just months after a massive earthquake devastated the country, Aerosmith brought their Back On The Road tour to Japan in Autumn 2011. 94 minutes.

Vinyl:

Baroness – Live at Maida Vale: BBC 12” (Relapse)

An incredible recording of Baroness live on the BBC from the historic Maida Vale studios. Four classic Baroness songs performed live and pressed on a super limited edition 12”. B-side complete with a gorgeous silkscreen of John Baizley’s iconic swan image.

Robert Belfour – Pushin’ My Luck [2003] LP (Fat Possum)

Vinyl version of Belfour’s sophomore album, originally released on CD in 2003. “Belfour strictly plays acoustic blues, but he plays them with the same dark, trancelike feel of Junior Kimbrough, haunting spookiness of Fred McDowell, rhythmic intensity of John Lee Hooker, and sprawling drawl of Lightnin’ Hopkins.” – All Music

For the first time since the 1980s, and for the first time in one package, The Birthday Party’s final recordings are collected onto two LPs. In addition, the package contains a never-before-released 7” single featuring two tracks from the Mutiny! sessions: “Six Strings That Drew Blood” and “Pleasure Avalanche.” Limited quantities are pressed on red/black and blue/black (both swirled), and gold vinyl.

Johnny Cash – Rockabilly Blues [Reissue/1980] LP (Yep Roc)

“Not as earth-shaking as his work with The Tennessee Two, and not really true rockabilly, it’s still a convincing album of country-rock songs with more depth than nearly anything else coming from Nashville at the time.” – All Music

Divine Fits – Chained To Love 12”+MP3 (Merge)

Divine Fits is Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade), Britt Daniel (Spoon), Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks), and Alex Fischel. This limited edition AA vinyl 12″ features two new singles, which premiered during a June 2013 band performance on the Conan O’Brien show.

John Doe – A Year In The Wilderness [2007] LP+MP3 (Yep Roc)

First time available on vinyl. As a founding member of punk monoliths X, John Doe seized his rightful place as one of the most influential musicians in American alternative music in the 1980s, clearing a path for the revolution in that genre that would take place a decade later. Since launching his solo career in 1990 with the dusty road-poetry of Meet John Doe, John has produced six roots rock albums of frightening honesty and vision. A Year In The Wilderness is no exception.

Editors – Weight Of Your Love LP (PIAS America)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. The Weight of Your Love is Editors’ first album featuring new members Justin Lockey and Elliott Williams, and the first to be recorded without co-founder and former lead guitarist Chris Urbanowicz, who left the band last year.

The Garden – The Life And Times Of A Paperclip LP (Burger)

Incredible bass and drum twin punk.

Gold Panda – Half Of Where You Live 2xLP (Ghostly Int’l)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Half Of Where You Live is the second album by Berlin-based electronic musician Gold Panda. The follow up to his award winning Lucky Shiner released in 2010, his 2013 album is a distillation of that which that made his previous work both loved and acclaimed, and also displays an evolution of his sounds, styles and methods.

Holy Ghost! – Dumb Disco Ideas 12” (DFA)

“Dumb Disco Ideas” plays like a history of the DFA studio sound: dry drums, two-note bass line, percussion, hand claps, arrangements with unexpected sounds dashing from side to side. Includes instrumental version on the B-side.

Reissue of 1968 album, remastered from the original tapes Fans of The Ronettes, The Shangri-Las & Pentangle are in for a treat – Honey Ltd’s music blended social commentary with harmony-drenched, psych-soul pop. CD version due July 30.

Egyptian Sports Network – Interstitial Luxor LP (New Images)

This futuristic tale of a Zero Gravity Sports network’s soundtrack being transmitted from the Olympic Space Station via Satellite feed, revealing an intuitive feel for the grace and immensity of space when brought into conjunction with the next advent in Transglobal Sports News Interstitial music. Five pieces of high energy portal from the difficult listening and metallic abstraction of “2042 Zero G Olypmics” to the Global Space Station Club Hit “JAI-LAi Nightclub.”

Craig Leon – Nommos [Reissue/1981] LP (Superior Viaduct)

First appearing incongruously on John Fahey’s Takoma label in 1981, Nommos remains enshrouded in impenetrable mystery—from its understated artwork to the rich assemblage of analog synths contained inside. According to Head Heritage, Nommos is the “missing link between the proto-industrial rhythm and drone of Suicide and the whole minimalist drone / static / repetition method of Terry Riley and La Monte Young.”

Loop – Fade Out [Reissue/1988] 2xLP+MP3 (Reactor)

Vinyl reissue of the sophomore album from late-’80s British primal psych band that was loosely influenced by bands such as the Velvet Underground, the Stooges and The MC5, but retained an avant-garde and experimental edge from the likes of Can, Faust, Neu!, Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca and minimalist systems music.

Bob Marley And The Wailers – Legend Remixed LP (Tuff Going/UMGD)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Bob Marley And The Wailers’ iconic 1984 album has been remixed by top DJs/producers, including Stephen Marley, Pretty Lights, Thievery Corporation, Jason Bentley, Z-Trip with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Photek, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Roni Size, RAC, Beats Antique, Nickodemus & Zeb, as well as a new rendition remix of “Redemption Song” by Ziggy Marley.

The Memories – Love Is The Law LP (Burger)

Love Is The Law is the second installment in the saga of The Memories, a stoned tale of sex, drugs, and romance in modern America.

Takako Minekawa/Dustin Wong – Toropical Circle LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. This collaboration strikes a lovely balance of homemade coziness, experimentation and charming humor, as Wong’s minimal-yet-imaginative sounds combine with Minekawa’s graceful and eloquent voice, samples, drum machines, and keyboards.

Peach Kelli Pop – Peach Kelli Pop LP (Burger)

Vinyl reissue of the debut LP from the solo project of Allie Hanlon, who also plays drums in Ottawa punk band White Wires. Her sound is a cozy niche of lo-fi and ‘50s-inspired girl group pop and rock that’s as hilariously simple as it is fearsomely addictive.

Sleeping Bag – Women Of Your Life LP (Joyful Noise)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Women Of Your Life is the intimately facile sophomore album from indie-slackers Sleeping Bag. Stripped-down, unblighted, bedroom pop songs… about girls.

Soundtrack [Rob] – Maniac [OST] LP (Mondo)

Regular vinyl edition of Rob’s future-classic soundtrack to the 2013 remake of Maniac starring Elijah Wood (Death Waltz released a deluxe picture-disc vinyl version overseas a few months ago). The mono-monikered French composer, Rob closely follows the film’s psychopathic themes by turns with a terrifying, mournful and poignant score heavily reminiscent of Cliff Martinez’s synth-heavy Drive soundtrack and almost certainly inspired by total classics from Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter or Wendy Carlos.